The National Geographic Magazine
Flowerpot-and-candle Stove Saves Fuel
A beribboned member of the Women's Voluntary Services dee
air-raid shelter device revived by Londoners when gas and elec
Incased between two pots, the candle keeps a kettle or saucep
hours. Two wooden props admit air; two others should separate
store, he could acquire. The clerk, he claims,
handed him two cans of sardines and a box of
cereal and told him to come back in six weeks,
when more points would be good.
Though our friend embellishes and exag
gerates his story of how tough it is to be a
civilian, English housewives watch their points
carefully. Baked beans or spaghetti can be
a hard choice.
A number of the point foods carry American
brand names or trade-marks, even though they
may be packed in England. For instance,
treacle pudding, British as it is, parades as
one of the "57 varieties."
But the familiar
Shredded Wheat package lacks a view of
Niagara Falls. Tinned meats are, for the
most part, shipped in
from the United States.
English "biscuits"
cookies-are almost
adequate compensation
for any curtailment of
other foods. One bite
explains the huge ex
port business normally
done in them. Deliv
ered to the provisioners
in large square tins,
they are sold by the
pound or half-pound
under names which
make no attempt at
glamour. One of the
most popular types, in
fact, is known simply
as a "digestive biscuit."
"Gingernut" I think is
a good name for what
we call a "gingersnap."
Saltines, or their near
est equivalent, are
"cream crackers."
Our precious biscuits
are weighed into a
paper bag, which the
clerk twists shut by
holding the top corners
and twirling the bag
around rapidly until a
small ear appears on
either side. This seems
tobeoneofthetra
ditional ways of pack
aging.
British Combine
Though such bags
are used for many
ctricity failed granular products, tea
an warm for
and coffee are usually
pot from pan.
piled on a flat sheet
of paper which is then
folded around the heap so neatly and firmly
that the package holds together without the
assistance of string or sticky tape. It must
take a long apprenticeship to achieve such
clerking art.
Half-pound lots of sugar are often rolled
into distinctive blue-paper cones, which do
not spill a grain.
Greengrocer Often Sells Flowers, Too
The greengrocer, who also handles fruit,
often includes flowers among his wares, so
that his shop brings the look of the country to
London. Beets, strangely enough, are sold
already cooked, a fact I discovered early in my
shopping education. English eggplants, like
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